Hoppin' John w/Collards

A multi-recipe mashup that is a real keeper.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large ham hock (or just shredded ham)
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 bunch collards, tough stems removed, and sliced into 1 inch strips.
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart chicken stock
Bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
3 cups steamed white rice

Directions
Heat oil in a large soup pot, add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery,  and garlic, cook for 4 minutes. Add the collards, black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stir occasionally. If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions. Serve over rice.

Shrimp Roasted with Potatoes and Prosciutto

Another DRI classic.  Easy, tasty, foolproof, tasty.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds yellow or red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
4 Tbs. Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne
1 pound large shrimp (21-25 count, easy peel, or peel and devein)
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest.
Ground Pepper.
1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 1/4 inch wide strips
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Position rack in lower third of overn, and put heavy-duty rimmed baking pan on the rack (thanks Grandma) and heat oven to 500.
In medium bowl, toss potatoes with 3Tbs Olive Oil, salt and cayenne, carefully spread on hot baking pan.  Roast for 20-25 minutes, turning half way until tender and golden.
Meanwhile, pat dry shrimp and toss in bowl w/1 Tbs. olive oil, lemon zest, pinch of salt, grindings of pepper.
Stir in prosciutto and garlic into mostly completely roasted potatoes and roast 5 minutes more.
Push potatoes to one half of the baking pan, and spread out shrimp on the other half in single layer.  Roast another 5 min until shrimp are cooked through.  Sprinkle with parsley, mix together and serve over/alongside of mixed greens (our new thing).

Massaged Kale Salad

Yes, even Kale benefits from a good massage, in this case, with salt.
Thanks to Liz for this recipe, it will be sure to get us through the winter.
Ingredients
One big bunch of Lacinato Kale (also called black kale, dinosaur kale.  The leaves are long, thinner and straight in comparison to regular curly kale)
1 T. Salt (we used sea salt cause I love it)
Roasted Sunflower Seeds
Blue Cheese
Raisins or Currants (try all kinds)
1 Apple, cored and sliced 
Cider Vinegar
Olive Oil

Rinse and dry kale.  Remove portion of stem, usually at least one third, that is woody and tough.  Stack kale leaves on top of each other and slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch strips.  Place strips in bowl and add 1 T. salt.  Massage salt through kale leaves.  This will tenderize the kale.  Set aside and core and slice apple. Break blue cheese up into edible chunk size.

Look at kale.  You'll notice that it is shrinking down in size a bit.  The salt is doing its job.
Add all other ingredients.  You'll notice that I didn't put down quantities for most of the ingredients. 

That's cause I wasn't given Q's by Liz.  This is a personal thing.  Use the amounts that you want to eat.  Do it all to taste.  It makes one heck of a salad.  And it keeps for a couple of days. 

Enjoy!

Escarole with Italian Sausage and White Beans Bon Appétit | October 1998

 We substituted what I like to call Faux Sausage, spicy vegetarian sausage links Whole Foods carries.  Also used vegetable broth in lieu of chicken.  Did not miss the prosciutto at all. 

Escarole with Italian Sausage and White Beans Bon Appétit | October 1998

Yield: Serves 12 as a side-dish or 6 as main-course 3 tablespoons olive oil 12 Italian sausages (about 3 pounds), casings removed 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped prosciutto (about 2 ounces) 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper 1 large head escarole, chopped (about 10 cups) 3/4 cup dry white wine 4 15-ounce cans Great Northern beans, rinsed, drained 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional) Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté sausage until cooked through, breaking up with back of spoon, about 6 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to bowl, leaving drippings in pot. Reduce heat to medium; add onion to pot and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add prosciutto and sauté 1 minute. Mix in garlic and crushed red pepper. Add escarole and sauté until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook 2 minutes. Add beans, stock and sausage and simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl. Top with grated Parmesan, if desired.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Escarole-with-Italian-Sausage-and-White-Beans-15600#ixzz1WtRjdCof

Brown Sugar Cookies

So we don't do much baking here at DRI, but the other day I got the yen for some cookies. Tired of store-bought, I asked, why don't we make cookies. Linda's been telling me about the brown sugar cookies she used to make as a kid. So, here we go.

After a little googling, we found the folowing recipe at Cynthia Furey's Furey and the Feast blog. Linda says that this is exaclty how she remembers the childhood recipe, and I can attest that the cookies are awesome.

http://www.fureyandthefeast.com/2010/04/brown-sugar-cookies/

Spicy Vietnamese Sandwich. Banh Mi

This is a WONDERFUL sandwich...if you like spicy food. The sandwich itself is superb but you can also eat the cabbage slaw by itself as a great no fat salad.

Spicy Vietnamese Sandwich: Banh Mi
(adapted from a Sunset Magazine recipe)


Cabbage Slaw

3 C. finely shredded cabbage
1/2 C. finely shredded carrots
1/4 C. chopped cilantro
1/2 finely chopped jalapeno pepper (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 C. rice vinegar (it must be plain rice vinegar--not seasoned rice vinegar and not some other type of vinegar) You can vary the amount of vinegar and sugar to your taste.
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar (or more or less to taste)

Toss these ingredients together and let them marinate for at least a half an hour. I let my slaw marinate on the counter (tossing it occasionally) rather than in the refrigerator to keep it crisp.

The Sandwich

French Baguette cut into 4-5 " pieces
Sriracha Hot sauce (or Asian Chile Garlic Sauce) to taste
Pressed Tofu marinated and baked in Annie Chun's Korean Barbecue Sauce

Slice a baguette into sandwich-size pieces--about 4 inches long. Heat the baguette pieces in your oven for a few minutes until the bread is slightly crisp on the outside but still soft inside. Slice the baguette (don't slice all the way through) and spread Sriracha hot sauce on one half of each baguette piece. Stuff the bread with a few slices of the barbecued tofu and then fill the sandwich with a generous amount of the spicy cabbage slaw.

It is wonderful!

Hatshepsut

Feta and Spinach Salad with Basil Dressing

Tired of Spinach Salad with Bacon dressing. Give this a try. What a simple refreshing salad, with the richness of ripe avocado and toasted walnuts.

1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. dried basil
2 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. fresh spinach, washed and torn
1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
Greek olives

For dressing: Combine first 7 ingredients in blender (we used our immersion blender. You have one, right?) Chill. Shake well before serving.

For salad: Combine rest of ingredients, except the olives in large bowl. Pour dressing over salad. Toss. Garnish with olives.

Halibut w/Potato Flake Crust

Courtesy of aunt Gerry. This is an easy and very tasty dish. Using potato flakes was new to us, but it works well, gives good flavor, and they can be found in small packets with a variety of flavorings. You'll find them with the big boxes of "instant mashed potatoes." A very forgiving dish.

2 egg yolks

1 packet dehydrated potato flakes (we used garlic/provolone seasoned)

1 pinch fresh thyme leaves

4 6 ounce halibut steaks

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Beat egg yolks salt and pepper in a wide shallow bowl or glass pie dish.

Combine potato flakes with thyme and spread out on a plate.

Season filets with Salt and Pepper on one side only.

Dip the seasoned side of filet in the egg mixture (only coat one side).

Place filets, egg-side down, onto potato flakes and press down to adhere (at this point we just left the filets on the potato flake pate as we only had two)

coat bottom of skillet with Olive Oil and place filets crust-side down into pan (no need to preheat).

Turn skillet to medium high and cook on crust side for 3 minutes (crust should be golden brown).

Flip filets and cook for an additional 1 minute.

Remove pan from heat and leave filets in pan for another minute.

Meanwhile, spoon a side-dish onto each place to place the fish on top of (we rice with spinach).

Remove filets and place on top of side-dish crust-side up (the classic "stack" as we call it @ DRI).

Deglaze pan with lemon juice and drizzle over top of filets.

Swiss Chard & Grilled Tofu

Here's our simple but very tasty Tofu and Greens "Stack" (where you pile a protein on top of greens (and sometimes a starch like mashed potatoes)). The lesson from this recipe, for the non-tofu-eaters? Treat tofu like meat. Put some BBQ sauce on it, and grill it like a steak. It's not the raw, bland tofu you're used to from the salad-bar.

1 bunch Swiss Chard

2 cups sliced Mushrooms (crimini usually)

1 clove garlic

1 package firm Tofu

Iron Chef Garlic Sesame barbecue sauce (or substitute your favorite BBQ sauce)

Slice tofu across the smallest face (as you would a loaf of bread) into 3/4 inch slices. You should get about 6 slices for a regular package of tofu. Press tofu"steaks" between double layers of paper towel placing a small cutting board on top to give a small "press". Leave for 15-20 minutes. Place tofu on a plate and marinate both sides with a generous amount of BBQ sauce and let stand for 20 minutes. Prepare a grill, brush grill with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Clean Chard, removing toughest part of stems. Grab the entire bunch of chard, rolling it into a bunch and slice crosswise to make strips 1/2 -3/4 inch wide.

Grill the tofu slices over a medium flame for a few minutes on each side to get nice grill-marks. The tofu is now "rare", cooked on the surface, but still moist in the center. We love it this way, but some prefer a firmer texture, which you can get by moving the tofu away from the direct flame, covering the grill and "baking" the tofu further.

While tofu is grilling....

Saute sliced mushrooms in olive oil, adding a few grindings of salt, remove to a plate. Add garlic and a little more oil to hot pan and dump in all the chard with the water that clings to the leaves. Saute until just wilted, stir in mushrooms and heat through, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with two tofu steaks on top. For a little extra flavor, drizzle tofu with just a bit more of the BBQ sauce.

Szechuan Noodles

Ingredients

• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup good soy sauce
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil
• 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 4 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)
• Marinated Baked Tofu (in place of shredded roast chicken)

Directions

Place the garlic and ginger in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, sherry vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, and ground peppers. Puree the sauce.

Add a splash of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook the spaghetti al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander, place it in a large bowl, and while still warm, toss with 3/4 of the sauce. Add the red and yellow bell peppers and scallions; toss well. Serve warm or at room temperature. The remaining sauce may be added, as needed, to moisten the pasta.

Broiled Steelhead Trout With Rosemary, Lemon and Garlic

• 1 lb steelhead fillet, with or without skin
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 1/2 lemon, juice of
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus
• additional oil, for greasing baking pan

1. Prepare a baking or roasting pan by lining it with foil and brushing it with olive oil.
2. Preheat broiler.
3. Mix together all remaining ingredients except fish into a well-blended paste.
4. Place fish skin-side down (if it has skin) on baking sheet, then spread seasoning over flesh.
5. Broil fish at second rack away from heat for 5 minutes or less, just enough to sear flesh but not burn herbs.
6. Lower fish to 3rd or 4th rack and lower oven heat to 325°F Bake for 10 additional minutes, or until fish is cooked through in the thickest portion.
7. Serve with steamed vegetables, salad, orzo salad, whatever.

From recipezaar.com

New favorite pickles!

Grillo's Hot. Fresh, crisp with great spices, and vinegar. Not sweet, but wonderfully tart and just slightly fragrant. And with a nice kick of heat! When you open the tub, you'll find nice fresh dill and spices right on the top. A quality food product, locally made, totally tasty. Lots of flavor for something that has roughly zero calories. Try them.

Simple Curry Marinade for Fish

Used this for marinated tuna skewers, grilled in grill pan, Excellent and easy. More heat than you'd think given how it's made.

1 small can coconut milk
2 tsp Thai Kitchen green curry paste
2 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbs ginger grated with microplaner
medium handful of cilantro chopped very fine (pulped)

mixed together and stored in jar in fridge for a few hours. Then smeared on tuna skewers and marinated for 2 hours or so. Reserving some of the marinade, heated in the jar and abbed on top after cooking.

Penne with Collards and Cennellini Beans

Classic DRI, easy, fast and yummy.
* 1 1/2 lb Collard Greens, washed but not dried
* 2 Tbs Olive oil
* 6 cloves Garlic (yes, 6, just do it)
* 1TBS tsp Crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like. we do)
* 1 cup Vegetable stock
* 1 1/2 cup Cooked cannellini or other white beans, rinsed & drained
* 1/4 tsp Salt
* 12 oz Uncooked pasta--penne, ziti, etc.
* Salt & ground pepper to taste
* 2 T Parmesan

Bring 3 quarts of water to boil.
Prepare greens by ripping leaves off stems.

Tear or cut leaves into bite-size pieces.
You should have about 12 cups.

Heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat.
Add garlic and red pepper flakes; saute for 2 minutes.
Stir in greens and stock; cover pan.
Cook until greens are wilted and tender yet still bright green, about 7 minutes.
Gently stir in beans and salt; keep warm.

While greens are cooking, drop pasta into boiling water; cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
Drain; stir into greens mixture.

Portabella Burgers

2 large portabella mushrooms per person
Shaved provolone cheese
Roasted Red Peppers
Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 Sesame roll per person
Arugula

If you don't have a balsamic vinaigrette on hand just make a quick one with olive oil, balsamic pi.ch salt and crushed garlic.
Remove stalks and gills from mushrooms, and marinate in vinaigrette for at least 20 min.
place gill side up on broiling pan and broil 3" from broiler for 6 minutes per side (adding provolone cheese after 3 minutes on second side.
Toast buns
Serve open face, stacking mushroom-roasted pepper-mushroom, and topping with a large handful of arugula.

Easy, and very satisfying. Next time I think we'll try blue cheese in place of provolone

Lobster Bisque

1) Make lobsters for 4, making an extra lobster for the stock
2) take the bodies from the lobster carnage and make a stock (~pt.) You can freeze for later, along with the meat.
3) Saute shallots and onions in butter, add 1/4 cup flour to make rue.
3) add lobster broth, and some fish stock or other broth for volume.
4) add 2 cups heavy cream.
5) season with white pepper, paprika, (old bay as option)
6) add 1/2 cup sherry
heat but don't boil. Serve w/crusty bread.

Scott's First Catch (Striped Bass en Papillote)

Tom sees my line tension and yells "you've got Moby Dick on your line!" It was totally awesome. Thanks Tom for teaching me. I'm hooked.

Sea Bass en Papillote
an epicurious.com recipe
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4, 6 oz fillets striped bass* (½ to 1¼ inches thick), with skin
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
8 thin lemon slices (less than ¾ inch thick; from 1 large lemon)
8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
12 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1½ Tbsp drained bottled capers

* black sea bass may be substituted

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil, then drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil.

Pat fish dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Arrange fillets, skin sides down, in 1 layer in center of foil on baking sheet and slide 2 lemon slices under each fillet. Arrange 2 thyme sprigs on top of each fillet.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté garlic, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and a pinch of salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are softened, about 1 minute. Stir in capers.

Spoon hot tomato mixture over fish, then cover with another sheet of foil, tenting it slightly over fish, and crimp edges together tightly to seal.

Bake until fish is just cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes (depending on thickness of fish); check by removing from oven and carefully lifting up a corner of top sheet of foil, pulling up sides of bottom sheet to keep liquid from running out. If fish is not cooked through, reseal foil and continue to bake, checking every 3 minutes.

Transfer fillets with lemon slices to plates using a spatula (be careful not to tear foil underneath) and spoon tomatoes and juices over top. Serve immediately, discarding thyme before eating.

Butter-Crumb Cod Casserole

Looking for another way to cook a flaky white fish? This Casserole is easy and brings in flavors that make it more that just another breadcrumb fish recipe. We used saltines & panko crumbs, because that's what we had on-hand, and it was very nice. I can see that Ritz would be good (though we're not allowed to have them in the house because they're evil).

1 1/4 cup coarsely crushed cracker crumbs (Ritz or Town House provide the best flavor)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green (bell) pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped green or mild onion
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sliced black olives
3 or more drops Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 pound fresh or frozen cod cut into 1 inch cubes


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, adding fish last.

Mix well. Turn into 1 1/2 quart buttered baking dish. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until fish flakes easily and crumbs are golden brown. Can be served with lemon wedges.

Carrot Som Tam (Thai Spicy Carrot Salad)

1 T Raw unsalted peanuts

1/4 c Fresh lime juice

2 T Nam pla (fish sauce)

1 t Light brown sugar

1 lg Clove garlic, peeled

2 Bird or other fresh hot chiles, seeded and finely chopped

1 t Dried shrimp powder (opt)

2 Ripe plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 c Grated carrots

1 Head leaf lettuce, washed dried & torn into approx 2″ pieces

1/2 sm Head green cabbage, cut into thin wedges

Som Tam usually has shredded papaya, and I'm sure it would be awesome that way. Here's a carrot variant that soaks up all those early farm-share carrots and has just the right SomTam taste.

Heat a small heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanuts

and dry roast, stirring constantly, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from the skillet, cool slightly and chop. Combine lime

juice, nam pla and brown sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Place the peanuts in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

With the processor blade spinning, add garlic, chiles and dried

shrimp powder, if using. Add the lime-juice mixture and process

until smooth. Transfer the dressing to a bowl; add tomatoes and

a handful of the carrots. Use a large flat spoon to press and

mash the tomatoes and carrots into the dressing. Gradually add

the remaining carrots until the salad is fully blended. (The

salad can be prepared ahead to this point and stored, covered, in

the refrigerator for up to 1 day.) Line a platter with lettuce,

place cabbage wedges around the edge, mound the carrot salad in

the center and serve. 68 calories per serving: 2 g protein, 1 g

fat, 14 g carbohydrate; 265 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol. From

Eating Well Magazine, Apr '95.

Sesame Kale Salad

For more info on Kale (Hint: It's healthy)

1 pound fresh kale (chard, spinach or other greens)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (crush to a powder)
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
black and red pepper to taste

Seperate kale leaves from stems. chop stems and greens into small pieces. Steam the stems (I have even used just a little water in the bottom of a pot and thrown everything in if you don't have a steamer) a couple of minutes and then add the greens and steam until just tender. let it cool. Squeeze out as much water as possible. Mix the dressing ingredients together and put in fridge until you're ready to toss with dressing and serve. I have done it cold only but you could serve it warm, too.

Recipe originally from this book: http://www.localharvest.org/asparagus-to-zucchini-a-guide-to-farm-fresh-C270